On which I write about the books I read, science, science fiction, fantasy, and anything else that I want to. Currently trying to read and comment upon every novel that has won the Hugo and International Fantasy awards.

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Saturday, April 26, 1980

1980 Nebula Award Nominees

Location: Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Los Angeles, California.

Comments: Usually when a well-known science fiction author is honored with an award win late in his career it is sort of a "make up" award. The book or story that is honored is typically not particularly good, but the voters aren't really honoring that work, but rather older, better books that were overlooked in prior years for one reason or another. Fortunately, when the Nebula was awarded to Arthur C. Clarke for The Fountains of Paradise, this was not the case, as Fountains is one of Clarke's best books. Given the typical pattern, it is good to see voters able to honor a writer as important to the science fiction genre as Clarke was without having to give the award to a below par book.

Sometimes an author has one blazing moment of glory that outshines the rest of his career. In 1980, Barry B. Longyear experienced such a moment with his novella Enemy Mine, which won both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. Enemy Mine is a fantastic story, but Longyear has never been able to follow up on its brilliance. Although the rest of his career has been generally good, nothing else he has written has ever come close in terms of greatness.

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